21st - 31st May 2024

Friday, 31st May: A fairly cloudy and breezy day but with more sunshine than yesterday, though cool for the time of year in a decidedly fresh N/NE wind force 5-6.

Barnham Brooks: Today was all about Swifts again...they were everywhere and if yesterday was good, then today's spectacle was amazing. I truly don't remember ever seeing such a spring gathering of these birds. It is very difficult to accurately assess their numbers, for swirling groups are constantly on the move, and as you watch a flock you become aware of yet another layer much higher and yet more much lower. Some were so high they looked really small, but Swifts they all were. So, by estimating segments it was possible to get some sort of estimate. The whole Brooks is a large open area and by gradually rotating through 360 degrees a total estimate is achieved.

As a result, I think a conservative and realistic estimate would be 5000 birds; however it could well be this figure is on the low side and it's quite likely a good many more were involved, but no matter; I'll stick at a comfortable 5000. I have tried a few photos to try and illustrate, but the camera tends to pick up the closest birds, whilst the distant ones look like dust on the screen!!

There was other interest on the Brooks also today. At least 3 (possibly 4) drake Garganey were present, but often elusive in the waterside vegetation, together with 4 Shoveler, probably 6 Teal, several Gadwall and 2 Egyptian Geese. Two Avocets and a couple of Ringed Plovers and Redshank were also noted. In the long grass behind the floods up to 6 Cattle Egrets were also seen

Swifts at Barnham Brooks: On arrival, lots low down and feeding close by, with many others just above them

They are at all ranges, near and far...and then scanning further there are simply hundreds in every direction....try counting that lot below, for every faint dot is yet another bird

It's the same story as you scan each quadrant....the very faint specs in this picture are not dust on the lens, they are just Swifts at all ranges. Amazing!

Thursday, 30th May: The local forecast was wide of the mark again - thankfully - with the predicted heavy rain for most of the morning relegated to some heavy dark clouds and a few brief showers passing through, to give the odd brighter period later, with a moderate breeze, NNW 4.

Barnham Brooks: Swifts were undoubtedly the birds of the morning here. It's been a long time since I've seen this many in spring, and at times the sky was dark with them, but my conservative estimate is that at least a thousand birds were present; high, low and everywhere in-between, quite a sight!. It's quite possible several hundred more may actually have been involved, before eventually the majority drifted away. A few Swallows were also present, plus the flock of c.15 House Martins, still collecting mud for nests.

Apart from the regular Lapwing and Redshanks, other waders were 4 Black-tailed Godwits, a Little Ringed Plover, a flock of 9 Ringed Plovers that flew over with a Dunlin, and a further 2 Ringed Plovers which dropped in to a flooded field. Six Teal and 4 Gadwall were also on the floods, whilst up to 6 Cattle Egrets were seen more distantly on the fields. A Cuckoo was also heard, whilst Reed and Sedge Warblers were also singing, albeit more subdued now as the breeding season is well underway.

Swifts at Barnham Brooks: It's really hard to try and convey the volume of birds present and my limited photographic skills have totally failed to do that...but birds were just everywhere for a while.

Wednesday, 29th May: A dry, bright and breezy day, with plenty of sunshine and cloud and a fresh W wind force 4.

Elmer Rocks: There were just a few bits and pieces, as the spring begins to peter out into early summer. A large and distant flock of feeding gulls assembled for a short while again this morning, with 3 or 4 Gannets in amongst them, before they  eventually dispersed. A Fulmar was offshore before heading E, and a single Common Scoter also went through in that direction, whilst a Little Egret went W along the beach and a Swallow arrived N from the sea.

 

I made a check along the hedgerows at the back of the beach and around the set-aside corner, where some of our summer visitors are now settled in, as the serious business of raising young gets underway. Half-hearted bits of song from a Chiffchaff and a Blackcap indicated they were busy in this respect, whilst 3 Whitethroats were also located. One of the latter was carrying a large green caterpillar to a nest site, a second was very subdued at a probable second site, but a third bird near the area of the weedscreen rife was singing almost constantly - often from the telegraph wires above - so may still be trying to attract a mate! A pair of Greenfinch were also in this area - the male of this pair often using the overhead wires too.

Little Egret flying along the beach, singing Whitethroat on telegraph wires and Greenfinch likewise.

Tuesday, 28th May: After heavy rain overnight, a fairly miserable morning in grey, cloudy conditions, as the rain continued before slowly easing off, in a brisk SW wind, force 5. Later, in the afternoon, becoming wet again with light drizzle.

(Editorial: Just a short note to say that there seems to be some ongoing technical issue with the Blogger system at present, affecting text spacing and/or layout and colouring, so please make allowances Any other problems are probably my fault!)

Elmer Rocks: A late morning visit, after the rain had eased, but with so little of note it is barely worth the report! Apart from the regular gulls and Cormorants, half a dozen Gannets going W and a couple E were the best I could do for seabirds. At the back of the beach were a pair of Linnets, a Greenfinch, a singing Blackcap and 2 Whitethroats still on territory. 

Ancton area: A look around some of the local field margins was not productive, with just a couple of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, plus a Song Thrush, the meagre best. Moving on, a quick look at the Lane End paddocks was greeted by the arrival of heavy drizzle as I went looking for the Swallows that normally breed here annually. I did manage to find one pair which looked as if they might be settling in, but where are the rest? Will they arrive very late, or just not arrive at all? Very concerning.

Bank Holiday Monday, 27th May: A much better morning locally than was forecast, with no rain or thunder, the heavy cloud becoming lighter and giving way to sunny spells in a breezy SW wind force 4-5.

Elmer Rocks: Another predictably slow morning. There was a very large gathering of gulls distantly offshore when I arrived, apparently with a bit of a feeding frenzy going on and with a small number of Gannets being amongst them - but within an hour the whole flock had dispersed. An immature Shag was resting with  a Cormorant on a very small 'island' off Poole Place, 2 Shelduck and an Oystercatcher went W and a flock of 12 Common Scoter and a Sandwich Tern went E, but that was about it apart from 2 Linnets on the beach. The local Whitethroats were still singing from the hedges behind the beach, plus a Blackcap and a Song Thrush.

Immature Shag (right) with Cormorant off Poole Place

Barnham Brooks: I spent some time checking the outer (and less visited) areas this morning. A total of 4 Egyptian Geese were located and also a small group of 13 Mute Swans - obviously all non-breeders - whilst the usual Shelduck and Gadwall were also present. At least 15 House Martins were active and collecting mud, whilst Swifts were also conspicuous today, a minimum of 25 being seen.

Swift at Barnham Brooks

Saturday, 25th May: Another fine, sunny and quite warm day, with a light to moderate SW-SSE breeze force 3.

Barnham Brooks: There was some variety again this morning: Cattle Egrets have made an appearance over the last few days and there were at least 4 again today, whilst wildfowl included a single Tufted Duck, 8 Gadwall, a pair of Shoveler, 4 Egyptian Geese and 2 Canada Geese. A single Ringed Plover and 3 Black-tailed Godwits were about the best of the waders.

Around 10 Swifts, a few Swallows and 12 House Martins were above the floods today. the latter still collecting mud, flying off and then returning for a refill, quite fascinating to watch. The regular warbler species were all in good voice and of interest was a Lesser Whitethroat, repeatedly singing its tuneless rattle in the bushes near to the new Amazon warehouse and almost underneath the road bridge, oblivious to the traffic noise all around.

House Martins at Barnham Brooks, collecting mud for nest-building then returning to refill...

Friday, 24th May: A fine late spring day and feeling quite warm, with prolonged sunshine, some high cloud and a fairly light to moderate breeze, W/SW 3, increasing 4-5 later.

Elmer Rocks: The day began with a flat calm sea and slightly murky visibility which soon cleared to reveal a lovely morning. There was however precious little moving offshore this morning, with the exception of Common Scoters; several flocks heading E totalled 48, whilst a large single flock of 60 went W (the latter apparently seen later at Selsey Bill). Two Sandwich Terns also went W, as did 18 Turnstones and 2 Sanderlings, whilst 2 Great Crested Grebes were on the sea. A Kestrel was hunting the set-aside behind the beach, 2 Linnets and 3 Whitethroats were in the hedges and a Sparrowhawk shot through heading E.

Barnham Brooks: This morning at least 2 Spotted Flycatchers were present in the same area as yesterday, as well as 2 Blackcaps and a Cetti's Warbler. On the main area of floods (drying out somewhat now) were 2 Avocets again, though often difficult to see and obscured by vegetation for periods of time, whilst other species of interest included 3 Ringed Plovers, 2 Egyptian Geese and a pair of Shoveler. A group of about 10 House Martins were also coming and going to the muddy edges around the pools, collecting mud for nest-building.

Pair of Shoveler and House Martins collecting mud, Barnham Brooks

Thursday, 23rd May: A dry, bright and breezy day, with some cloud, plenty of sunshine and a fresh W wind force 4.

Elmer Rocks: Another hour's watch this morning, once again with very little movement to report. A large and distant flock of gulls was offshore around some fishing boats, with a small number of Gannets amongst them, whilst a lone Sandwich Tern drifted by, then 2 Swallows arrived from the sea and headed N inland. There was little else until I was about ready to leave, then suddenly two recently-arrived Wheatears popped up along the beach, once again proving that some migration is still ongoing.

A pair of Greenfinches and a singing Whitethroat were near the Kiosk, with the other now-resident Whitethroats also further along towards Poole Place. 

(above) Greenfinch feeding near the Kiosk and (below) Wheatears along the beach

Barnham Brooks: Four drake Shoveler were present this morning, together with 24 Shelduck and 18 Mallard, but surprisingly Gadwall turned out to be the most numerous species, with at least 48 birds counted when a distant flock spooked and took flight for some reason, having earlier been concealed in waterside vegetation. Wader numbers have now dropped, but there were still 3 Ringed Plovers, 2 Little Ringed Plovers, the usual Lapwings and 2 Redshank. High above were a few Swallows and half a dozen Swifts. 

Then late afternoon/early evening came news (with thanks to D.Boon) of several Spotted Flycatchers and Cattle Egrets on the patch - the latter a patch tick for me - so an evening visit was on the cards! I'm pleased to say I recorded both the above-mentioned species, but the full log, courtesy of DB, is as follows:

Egyptian Goose - 2

Little Egret - 7

Cattle Egret - 6

Grey Heron - 11

Greenshank - 1

Redshank - 2

Oystercatcher - 2

Lapwing - 15

Ringed Plover - 6

Swift - 50+

House Martin - 4

Swallow - 4

Spotted Flycatcher - 5 (possibly 6)

Peregrine - 1

At Barnham Brooks this evening:- Cattle Egret, Greenshank, Peregrine and Spotted Flycatcher (all photos: D Boon)

Bersted Brooks: A check of these brooks - which have been flooded for months and are still inaccessible in some places - didn't reveal anything too exciting, but this local Reserve does have potential. Today it held a couple of singing Chiffchaff and Blackcaps, Reed and Sedge Warblers, a small flock of Goldfinch, a Song Thrush, a Reed Bunting and 2 Greenfinch.

Wednesday, 22nd May: A fairly cool, grey and cloudy day, in a fresh and quite blustery WSW wind force 4-5, and although there were some brief and occasionally heavy showers, by and large the predicted heavy rain with thunderstorms failed to materialise.

Elmer Rocks: Just an hour watched this morning (0700-0800hrs) when it was predictably slow again. An occasional Gannet trickled by (2E,12W), 3 Common Scoter went E and several Sandwich Terns also passed through (4E,1W), whilst a Swallow arrived N from the sea and the regular Whitethroats were singing well from the hedges.

Gannet passing west off  Elmer Rocks

Tuesday, 21st May: A generally cloudy and grey sort of day, with a moderate NE breeze force 3-4 and a little cooler than recent days, but remaining dry except for a few spits and spots of light drizzle late morning.

Elmer Rocks: A brief look at the sea this morning (3/4 hr) was largely unproductive, but did show that a few birds are still moving, such as Gannets (4E), Whimbrels (2E) and Sandwich Terns (4E), whilst a couple of Oystercatchers and Turnstones were on the shore at low tide.

Whimbrels moving east offshore at Elmer Rocks

Barnham Brooks: Wildfowl numbers had dropped this morning, although 14 Gadwall and a small flock of Shelduck were still present, but a number of waders were again of interest, with at least 15 Ringed Plovers, 2 Little Ringed Plovers, an Oystercatcher, 3 Redshanks and a single Dunlin logged.

The usual singing warblers were still making their presence felt, whilst above there were at least 10 Swifts and a dozen Swallows over the floods.

Dunlin, and Dunlin with Ringed Plover at Barnham Brooks

Ancton paddocks: Casual visits yesterday and today have proved disappointing, with no obvious migrants either grounded or passing through overhead and just local resident species being the best on offer. A pair of Swallows yesterday were obviously prospecting nest sites, but I could not re-find them today; just where are they if they are coming at all this year, for in recent times several pairs have been well established by this date…rather troubling.

A pair of Pied Wagtails appear to be nesting in one of the wooden stables, whilst pairs of Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers come and go to collect food and then return to the woods behind. Two singing Chiffchaffs and a Blackcap (perhaps 2) are also resident in the woods, as is a Song Thrush pair and perhaps 2 pairs of Stock Doves. I keep hoping, but scarcer migrants are there none!